Red Lentil Loaf
- Total Time
- 2 hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 1cup red lentils
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 3tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- 1medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 1teaspoon toasted and ground cumin seeds
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 2medium carrots, finely chopped
- 2teaspoons grated lemon zest
- 3tablespoons lemon juice
- Pinch of ground cayenne
- 2eggs
- 3tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro
- ½cup rolled oats
- 1cup plain yogurt
- 2Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
- 3scallions, thinly slivered, for garnish
- ¼cup roughly chopped dill, for garnish
- Red-pepper flakes, for garnish
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
274 calories; 10 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 34 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 13 grams protein; 455 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Rinse lentils. Put them in a medium saucepan. Add water just to cover and a good pinch of salt. Bring to a boil high, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for about 30 minutes, until very soft. Drain well.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, put 3 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cumin, garlic and carrots, seasoning mixture well with salt and pepper. Add lemon zest and juice, and cayenne.
- Step 3
Transfer drained red lentils and onion mixture to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until it’s the consistency of soft mashed potato, a bit lumpy. The mixture should be bright, peppery, lemony and well salted. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Step 4
In a small bowl, beat the eggs with a fork. Add the cilantro and beat together. Pour egg mixture into lentil mixture and pulse to incorporate. Add oats and mix in.
- Step 5
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a loaf pan with olive oil. Lay a wide strip of parchment paper into the pan, leaving an overhang on two sides to help in removing cake later. Pour lentil mixture into the pan, smoothing the top. Fold excess parchment over the top. Bake until nicely browned, about 1 hour. Remove from pan and let cool. (The loaf is easier to cut if cooled.) Cut into 1-inch slices.
- Step 6
In a small bowl, mix together yogurt and cucumbers, and season with salt. Warm the slices up briefly in a 350-degree oven, if desired. Even better: Griddle the slices with a bit of oil in a nonstick or cast-iron pan until crisp and golden on both sides. Or simply serve at room temperature.
- Step 7
Spoon yogurt-cucumber sauce over each slice and sprinkle with scallion, dill and red-pepper flakes. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, if you wish.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Lisa
almost stopped reading when i saw "masquerading as meatloaf" but glad i didn't. yum. ill toast thick slices and serve as the base of open-faced sandwiches with farmers cheese & lox, and cucumber instead of the yogurt-cuke sauce.
T.Swanson
I made this recipe vegan(flax seed egg and shaped into meatballs). The meatballs were delicious in salad and in a tomato sauce. The next few days even tasted better. Also I changed the seasoning to Italian. Thank you so much for this recipe!
MaryLou
I used a 8.5 x 4.5 x 2 3/4 (1-lb size) pan and it fit perfectly.
Rose
Recipe calls for "a loaf pan." There is wide variation in loaf pan sizes. Does anyone have a recommendation?
Joyce
Mine ended up dry and crumbly; maybe add an egg? In any case, it was delicious, and perfect with the yogurt/cucumber sauce, though I used dried mint instead of dill. A keeper!
Cindy
My Red Lentil is currently in the oven. Of course, I did a ‘taste test’ while folding together all the ingredients in the loaf Pan. and it’s delicious! My only question is about the red lentils. Directions to cook lentils for 30 min. Not happening in my kitchen. In about 15 min lentils were done and absorbed the water. I’m not too concerned about because it fit in the loaf Pan fine and it tastes very good. I veganized it by subbing Bob’s Red Mill egg replacer, rather than eggs.
Sally Higgins
I used a mini muffin tin (lightly greased), baked at 350 for about a half hour, turned off the oven and left the house for about one hour. When I returned, my little lentil protein bites were perfect!
LoveAndSqualor
I mixed everything yesterday and stuck it in the fridge overnight and I think this helped the texture (the oatmeal had time to absorb the liquid). I also made mine into patties, which I baked until just firm. Not dry at all, even the meat-and-potatoes faction thought it was really good. Like others have said, the yogurt makes the dish. I served mine with salad and rice, with a dab of harissa on top.
Randy
I enjoyed this! As others have noted it tends to be a bit dry, so I added a tbsp. of olive oil to the food processor. The leftovers will make an encore in a lunchtime grain bowl. The yogurt sauce is essential. Glad I used an 8x4 loaf pan. A 9x5 would have been too large.
diane
The yogurt dressing was perfect for this - we did add in some lemon juice and that worked for us. Increased the spices a bit and put sumac on the top. Several shortcuts like toasting the cumin seeds then adding the veggies to soften; processing in a sliced, seeded whole small lemon. Frying the slices was good and gave it a taste somewhat like a falafel which was just fine with us. The leftovers are great in pita with a slaw type salad or on rye toast.
Susie D
Made this for dinner a few days ago and we loved it despite it being a bit dry. Used parsley instead of cilantro, sliced cucumbers on the side. Subtle flavours, with little pops of lemon now and then, and the warm spices providing an added dimension. Best of all, served it with J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's Braised Peppers and Onions - an amazing combination. Had the leftovers for dessert the next day with fresh fruit and a dollop of yoghurt ... kinda savoury, kinda sweet, totally delicious
SarahT
I really think this recipe could use some reworking. While the flavor is nice, it didn't matter what temp I sliced it at, it fell apart and was super crumbly and dry. Another egg? Some oil as one commenter noted? I saw one person put it in a grain bowl. That might be the best use if it can't hold together. Not enough return on investment for me.
Nick C
Mine came out moist, loaded with flavor, and absolutely delicious. I followed the recipe exactly except I didn’t need the food processor as the lentils were already a “mash potato” texture after cooking them for 30 mins. I did let everything sit for an hour in the fridge before baking but only because family timing is chaotic in this house. Definitely a recipe worth keeping and experimenting with.
Murali
I made a plant-based version of this, by excluding the eggs and replacing it with ground flax seed mixed in a little water. The taste was ok, but the consistency was not bread like, but more pudding like. I guess I should have increased the binding agent (flax) more.
June
I REALLY wanted to like this. But it was dry, crumbly and meh.
Lilys
Patties not overly interesting but remaining uncooked leftovers were ok heated with cooked greens.
Name
Very good - added another egg to help bind, per comments from others on the site
jane
Very good. Maybe slightly more garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice and cilantro. Add white pepper to the lentils and the onion mixture. Plus another egg. Good with plain Greek yogurt.
Gina
Delicious. Made it once before as written. Didn’t have oats this time so I substituted quick cook farro. Just as good.
Sarah N.
Very good as written and turned out easy to serve to a game-night group for dinner. Definitely quite crumbly, but that was fine with us. Next time we'll experiment with spice blends - I bet this would be great with za'atar or berbere seasoning. We finished it off by warming the last pieces in a pan with just a little bit of olive oil, then putting a fried egg on top - perfect breakfast!
Emma Gee
Recipe modifications: Add more cumin seeds, extra 1/4-1/2 tsp. Add more cilantro, 1 tel. Add grated ginger, 1 to 1 1/2 tbl. Salt is important to this recipe, make sure it is well salted.
Ari
It’s dry when reheated but flavor is good
Linda S
Dry, tasteless and not worth the time and effort. Lacks flavor and appeal. So disappointed, hard to believe other reviews praised this.
Twee
You really ought to have someone other than the author make the recipe before you publish it, and have the author taste the results. I suspect that a lot of food has been wasted because of the poor measurements provided for cooking lentils. Not to mention the disappointed guinea pigs who we have served this to.
Nick C
Mine came out moist, loaded with flavor, and absolutely delicious. I followed the recipe exactly except I didn’t need the food processor as the lentils were already a “mash potato” texture after cooking them for 30 mins. I did let everything sit for an hour in the fridge before baking but only because family timing is chaotic in this house. Definitely a recipe worth keeping and experimenting with.
Leslie
Disappointed, unfortunately. Followed the recipe. It was astoundingly bland and didn’t taste like much of anything. We love just plain cooked red lentils, which are so simple. I had high hopes for this. Way to much work for not much flavor.
Kris
Confirming that it’s quite dry and crumbly— would benefit from the addition of an additional egg & more olive oil or butter. Cut prep time by dicing the veggies in the food processor since it’s out and getting dirty anyway. Added fresh chopped baby spinach. Yum! Double the amount of sauce; as-is, it was only enough for 1/2 the portions (I mixed in the dill and scallions in too to simplify serving and leftovers— delicious).
alacarte
I made this with a small modification...only had 3/4 cup red lentils on hand so used 1/4 cup cooked quinoa to make up for the shortfall. While the batter was sufficiently lemony and bright, after cooking and letting it sit overnight it tasted quite bland, even after griddling the slices. If I make it again I will double the lemon and spices.
Gina
Forgot to buy oats so I used panko breadcrumbs instead, and threw in three tablespoons of chia seeds to help bind it. Skipped the cumin since some people aren’t fans. My lentils cooked very quickly-probably in 15 minutes. Once the loaf went in the oven I set the timer for 50 minutes and checked it at 45. The top seemed set but I didn’t want it mushy in the middle so I gave it five more minutes. It was perfect. And perfectly delicious. So happy to have found this recipe.
SunsetStella
I read all the comments. I think the recipe is poorly edited. * the lentils need more water to cook, they expand. You can always put them in a sieve to get rid of excess water. Mine cooked in 20 minutes * the carrots need to cook maybe 5 minutes or longer so they get soft + don't taste like raw carrots * I pulsed the oats so the mixture had an even consistency * don't just bake it for 1 hour! Check on it, I pulled it at 50 minutes - it was not dry + did not fall apart It was DELICIOUS!
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